Sweden has raised its terrorist alert level to four on a scale of five, the Swedish Security Service announced on Thursday (August 17th), as strong reactions abroad to the desecration of the Koran on Swedish soil made the country a “priority target”.

“I have decided today to raise the terrorist threat level from high to critical,” Sweden’s intelligence chief Charlotte von Essen said at a press conference. that the threat of attacks “will persist for a long time” in the country.

This is the first time since 2016 that Sweden has raised its alert level. At the time, the decision was taken, among other things, because the Islamic State organization regularly made terrorist threats towards the European continent.

A degraded security situation due to the profanations of the Koran

In recent months, the security situation of the Nordic country, usually calm, has deteriorated particularly after desecrations of the Koran on its soil. At the end of July, in particular, two men had set fire to a copy of the Koran in front of the Parliament, in Stockholm, reiterating a gesture already carried out at the end of June in front of the largest mosque in the Swedish capital.

These actions have caused great tension in the Muslim world. The Swedish embassy in Iraq, in Baghdad, was set on fire before being temporarily repatriated to Stockholm. The hostility expressed towards Sweden had then led the country to intensify its border controls, without however raising the risk of a terrorist attack.

Last week, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Swedish embassy in Beirut, without the projectile exploding. And over the weekend, the terrorist group Al-Qaeda called for terrorist attacks in the Scandinavian country.

Terrorist attacks ‘very likely’ in Sweden, says UK

Several countries have also updated their recommendations for travelers wishing to visit Sweden. On Sunday, British diplomacy said that terrorist attacks there today were “highly likely”. On July 26, the United States had also advised travelers to exercise “increased caution” in Sweden because of the risk of “terrorism”.

The Swedish authorities are considering ways to limit the organization of demonstrations planning to burn the Koran while respecting freedom of expression. But the parliamentary majority now seems hostile to such a change.